This invention relates to a method and associated apparatus in aid of optimum self-examination of the breast by women for early detection of breast cancer. The importance of monthly self-examination by women to detect breast tumors is universally accepted and recommended by the medical profession. Early detection of breast cancer leads to significantly higher chances of survival for the breast cancer patient because treatment, such as surgery or chemotherapy, is most effective when initiated at the early stages of the carcinoma.
The method and associated products of the present invention ties the clinically recommended monthly self-exam to the female menstruation cycle. The menstruation cycle is used as an "internal clock" with which a woman can regulate self-examination of her breasts. Normally, a woman's breasts are the least enlarged (that is to say smallest in size) and softest seven to twelve days after the onset of menstrual bleeding. Breast tumors usually present themselves as lumps of various sizes embedded in the soft tissues of the breast with a relatively hard and bumpy skin surface in relation to surrounding skin covering a woman's chest.
Since the female breast is smallest and softest seven to twelve days after the onset of bleeding, breast tumors are easier to detect within this "time window." During this period, the surrounding soft tissue is much softer than the cancerous lump, and the tumor is presented more prominently because of the smaller size of the overall breast. Because the lump is easier to palpitate during this period, the clinically suggested optimum time for self-exam is the six day "window" in the woman's menstrual cycle.
However, such recommendations, like other medical advice, meets with compliance problems. The problem that is often clinically encountered is encouraging women to remain on such a regulated course of self examination. Women have different cycles, different levels of social and educational backgrounds, and different motivations and health goals. These factors all lead to less than strict compliance with regular monthly self-examinations. Continuous monthly self-exams are usually altogether forgotten by the time of the next appointment with the gynecologist.
There has been a particular need for a product and method that can aid women in regulating self-examinations based on external criteria. There is a need for a systematic method whereby a woman can set a regular schedule of self-exam depending on set, repeatable, external factors. The external criteria set by the present invention, uses a schedule that coincides with conditions when tumors can best be detected by self-examination. This method increases a woman's chance of detecting cancer at an early stage by providing reminders to enhance compliance with recommended monthly self-exams.
Female hormone supplements (commonly referred to as birth control pills) can be such an external system used as constant reinforcers of the need for self-examination. Birth control pills regulate a woman's menstruation cycle by controlling levels of the hormones estrogen and progesterone to prevent implantation of a fertilized embryo onto a female's womb. This regulation is utilized as the basis for this invention.
Most birth control pills contain estrogen, some in larger relative quantities and others in relative combinations with progesterone. Medical research has linked breast cancer with the use of estrogen as a female hormone supplement. Thus, users of estrogen containing birth control pills have a relatively higher risk of developing breast cancer. This invention will increase the chances of early detection of tumors in women who use estrogen containing birth control pills by increasing compliance with the recommended monthly self-exams.